Are You An ADD Adult?

I have to confess an interest in this subject as I certainly am subject to Attention deficit disorder (ADD) but in my case without the hyperactivity. ADD or ADHD doesn’t just affect children, though they certainly seem to be increasingly prone to it, but roughly 4 % of adults certainly have some of the symptoms. So far no one knows what causes it, or makes someone more vulnerable to it, though there is increasing evidence that it might have a biological basis, but whatever the cause it helps to know how to deal with it.

With the pressure we are all under, and as we get older, we are subject to lapses of memory, distraction and sheer overload. The official diagnosis of ADHD includes the three major symptoms of inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness and you can have any or all of these symptoms. When trying to learn, complete a project or get on with people these traits can get in the way – however on the positive side ADHD often goes alongside creativity and thinking outside the box.

If you are not sure whether you are in this category there is a simple, quick test at the appallingly named Psych Central, but don’t let that put you off. The website is psychcentral.com/addquiz.htm and I have to confess that out of 100 I got 92. If I was competitive I would say ‘beat that!’ but not sure that is going to help – why do you think I wrote a book on procrastination!

Natural Help:

If your ADHD seriously impacts your life then you may need professional help, but there are some simple steps to take first to give you some support.

1 You need to keep your brain healthy and functioning well and to do that it needs a good supply of the Omega-3 fatty acids. You can get these through your diet from oily fish, whole foods, flaxseeds and walnuts.

2 A high protein, low carbohydrate works for most ADHD sufferers, except for those whose problem is being over focused, they need carbohydrates far more than protein.

3 Your brain needs dopamine to stay focused and able to concentrate and the best way to do it is through regular exercise. Anything you like as long as you enjoy it enough to maintain it.

4 Back to the previous item, and yet another benefit of mindfulness meditation is that it has been shown to ‘centre’ and stabilise that chattering mind that often goes with ADHD.

In the US there is much talk about the Feingold diet which is claimed to help not just ADHD but many other disorders as well and if you want to check it out go to http://www.feingold.org/ but there are some simple rules you can implement straight away – but remember no diet or regime suits everyone so experiment and see if it works for you:.

ADHD sufferers do best when their sugar levels are even so cut out sugar in all forms as that will make your insulin levels rise and fall, causing mood changes and irritability. If you do have lots of sugar you are likely to crash, become spacey, confused and unable to pay attention. Eating little and often works best, and don’t eat three hours before bed. Try to have protein with most meals and limit fruit juices because of their high sugar content so eat fruit instead.

WARNING: If you are on any ADHD medicine then give up caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol as they dehydrate the body and affect your mood. Alcohol mixed with ADHD medications can be life threatening and both caffeine and tobacco decrease the blood flow to the brain and makes the condition worse. Citric acid can interfere with some ADHD medications so limit your intake of oranges, tangerines and grapefruit as well as their juices.

Pain Reduced by Meditation

I am a great advocate of meditation for many things: stress management, pain relief from arthritis, relaxation and general sense of increased peace and happiness. Now it seems that people who meditate regularly find pain less unpleasant because their brains anticipate the pain less – no one so far has yet done a study on meditation relating to childbirth pain, but I would be interested to hear from any readers experience of it. Currently In the UK 40% of people who suffer from chronic pain report inadequate management of their pain problem so any relief is welcomed.

You do need to keep practicing to get this pain relief benefit though as scientists from the University of Manchester found that only the more advanced meditators had a different anticipation and experience of pain when compared to non-meditators.

It didn’t seem to matter what kind of meditation as long it included ‘mindfulness meditation’ practices, such as those that form the basis of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), recommended for recurrent depression by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in 2004.

Dr Christopher Brown, who conducted the research, said that “meditation is becoming increasingly popular as a way to treat chronic illness such as the pain caused by arthritis and recently, a mental health charity called for meditation to be routinely available on the NHS to treat depression, which occurs in up to 50% of people with chronic pain. However, scientists have only just started to look into how meditation might reduce the emotional impact of pain.”

The study found that particular areas of the brain were less active as meditators anticipated pain and that people who meditate also showed unusual activity during anticipation of pain in part of the prefrontal cortex. This is the region of the brain known to be involved in controlling attention and thought processes when potential threats are perceived. . Meditation trains the brain to be more present-focused and therefore to spend less time anticipating future negative events. This may be why meditation is effective at reducing the recurrence of depression, which makes chronic pain considerably worse.

Study co-author Professor Anthony Jones said: “One might argue that if a therapy works, then why should we care how it works? But it may be surprising to learn that the mechanisms of action of many current therapies are largely unknown, a fact that hinders the development of new treatments. Understanding how meditation works would help improve this method of treatment and help in the development of new therapies.

If I was feeling cynical I might say that scientists have always been distinctly wary of anything ‘emotional’ that can’t be proved, so I do celebrate this as a giant step forward. If you want to conduct your own ‘research’ there are many classes available on meditation and plenty of self-help CD’s if you can’t get to a class. If you want to have a look at the meditation CD I produced to help you relax and reduce stress then please visit this link and scroll down the page http://www.catalystonline.co.uk/health.htm

Forget yoghurt for probiotics – choose cheese instead

We know we need to have healthy flora in our intestine to keep our immune system working at its best and for optimum health. The modern solution is to take either a probiotic supplement or one of the many yoghurt or milk-based products you will find in the supermarket that have been enhanced with beneficial flora. These have their place, but food is known to have a buffering effect as both probiotic and lactic acid bacteria travel through the gastric juices in the stomach so real food gives a much higher survivability rate than supplements. Now however there is a new, natural and very tasty solution to getting the right amount of beneficial flora — particularly as we get older.

Scientists in Finland have discovered that aged cheese can help preserve and enhance the immune system of the elderly by acting as a carrier for probiotic bacteria. All you need to do is eat a daily helping of a probiotic cheese to help tackle the normal, age-related, changes in the immune system.

Dr Fandi Ibrahim from the University of Turku in Finland describes this age-related deterioration of the immune system as immunosenescene which means that the body is unable to kill tumour cells and reduces the immune response to vaccinations and infections.

Immunosenescene is also indicative of infectious diseases, chronic inflammation disorders and cancer and Dr Ibrahim’s team targeted the gastrointestinal tract, which is the main entry for bacteria cells into the body through food and drink and is also the site where 70% of vital immunoglobulin cells are created.

The volunteers all lived in the same care home and were aged between 72 and 103, which must say a lot for the standard of Finland’s care homes! All the participants were asked to eat one slice of either placebo or probiotic Gouda cheese with their breakfast for four weeks – which is not an uncommon breakfast food in that part of the world – and blood tests where then carried out.

They wanted to discover the effect of probiotic bacteria contained within the cheese on the immune system and the results revealed a clear enhancement of natural and acquired immunity. Or in other words, a much improved immune system and if you were wondering what makes a probiotic cheese it is simply one that is aged and made from raw milk or buy a fermentation process.

The longer cheese is aged for, the more probiotics and metabiotics (beneficial byproducts released as the probiotics digest their food) it will contain These cheeses will contain more of the lactic acid producing bacteria that the human body is designed to eat, but that doesn’t include mozzarella and ricotta as they do not normally contain probiotics due to being made by different methods or anything labelled “cheese spread” or “cheese product”. These have been heated to a temperature that kills the good bacteria so that all the good qualities of cheese are destroyed but the fat remains!

So stock up your cheese board with Cheddar, Emmental, naturally aged Gouda and any of the Swedish and Norwegian hard cheeses that you can find in your supermarket chiller cabinet. The tasty solution, and a healthy one, to keep your immune system strong and healthy.

Don’t Fight Dandruff With Chemicals

No one likes to have dandruff, and there are plenty of shampoos and products on the market to help with unsightly white cloud. It’s tempting to just reach for the nearest bottle of antidandruff shampoo, but if you take a few moments to read the ingredients you might want to think again as they often contain harmful chemical substances such as coal tar that can have damaging effects on your health as it particularly it has been linked with kidney or liver problems. There are some much simpler, pleasanter and more natural methods of dealing with dandruff by using herbs, essential oils, vitamins and minerals.

You certainly know when you have dandruff, as the visible signs are obvious to you and everyone else. Do you know why you get it? It happens when the fine cells of the outer layer of skin on the scalp are shed at a faster rate than normal, causing flakes to fall and this is caused by a disorder of the sebaceous glands. If too little sebum is secreted, the hair is dry and dandruff appears as white flakes; if too much sebum is produced, the hair is greasy and the dandruff is a waxy yellow. If your scalp is inflamed and itchy then it’s likely you have seborrheic dermatitis, a severe form of dandruff, and eczema, allergies to hair products and psoriasis may also cause it. Also, if you have a shortage of the minerals zinc and selenium, and vitamin E, vitamin C and vitamin B complex in your diet than that can also contribute to your getting dandruff.

To tackle it yourself, an old herbal remedy is to rub rosemary-infused oil into the scalp before washing. Rinse greasy hair with rosemary vinegar or add a few drops of rosemary essential oil into rinsing water. Herbs that improve the condition of the scalp include burdock, kelp and heartsease.

Aromatherapy solutions for dandruff are cedarwood, tea tree or patchouli – all of which can be massaged into the scalp by blending a few drops of your chosen essential oil with a carrier oil, such as jojoba. You can also massage the scalp with a few drops of lavender oil and almond oil to eliminate dandruff.

Another tried and trusted remedy is to use tissue salts and these usually needs to be taken over a fairly long period of time. Tissue Salt No. 5 is Kali. Mur. And this is the one to take if you have white, flaky dandruff but be aware that sometimes the dandruff may get worse at the beginning. You can also add Kali. Mur. to your diet by increasing foods such as green beans, carrots, beetroot, fresh corn, kale, asparagus, pineapples, lemons and plums.

One of the most useful tissue salts for sticky, waxy dandruff; with flaky, dry patches on the scalp as well as alopecia (hair loss) is Tissue Salt No. 6 – Kali. Sulph. Increase the amount of parsley, linseed, mustard, watercress, and the herb lemon balm.

One of the most useful salts is No. 12 – Silica for both treating dandruff, improving the condition of dull and lacklustre and keeping the scalp healthy. Herbs and foods rich in silica are stinging nettle, dandelion, comfrey, wheat, maize, barley, oats, apples, guavas, spinach, chicory and celery.

Diabetes Help from the Baby Jackfruit

The figures for diabetes in the UK are worrying, and increasing. There are currently 2.3 million people diagnosed with diabetes and more than 500,000 believed to have the condition but aren’t aware of it. Within 15 year, at the current rate of increase, it is thought that there will be an additional 1.3 million people with the condition which is the equivalent of a 46% increase.

Like many conditions, diabetes can be helped by a dressing diet and lifestyle. One new element on the horizon is the Baby Jackfruit – an unusual and interesting red skinned fruit from Asia which has been seen to have potential health benefits for diabetes sufferers.

Baby Jackfruit, is known as the ‘fruit from heaven’, and is used for food and medicinal purposes across Southeast Asia. It is hardly ever seen in Europe because it fruits only once a year and so is found mainly in local markets at the right time of year.

Recent studies have shown that Baby Jackfruit has been found to be very high in a molecule called beta-carotene, which is a vegetable form of Vitamin A and it is thought that many diabetics suffer from a lack of this nutrient due to poor diets. There are a number of studies that indicate vitamin A may be beneficial for those suffering with diabetes and a clinical trial on 52 healthy volunteers showed that there is a distinct relationship between the amount of Vitamin A you have in your body and the speed at which the body can dispose of glucose. This could potentially be valuable for type 2 diabetes sufferers as it is the inability to break down glucose, and hence its high levels in the blood, that can cause health problems.

Jackfruit contains by far the highest content of beta-carotene of any known fruit or vegetable, 10 times higher than carrots for example and research has confirmed that the beta-carotene (Vitamin A) it contains is highly bioavailable to humans. In a double-blind study, based on 185 subjects, people were either given 3.5mg of beta-carotene from Baby Jackfruit, or an identical looking preparation of 5mgof beta-carotene powder. After 30 days, the former group, eating natural beta-carotene from the Baby Jackfruit, had significantly greater plasma (blood) levels of beta-carotene than the latter, who used synthetic beta-carotene.

Another benefit of eating vegetables rich in carotenoids, such as beta-carotene found in Baby Jackfruit, is that they are thought to help protect against raised blood glucose levels and may well be a preventative factor in hyperglycemia. This benefit of the metabolism of glucose from eating carotenoids from fruit and vegetables has also been shown in men at high risk of type 2 diabetes, and so may well help in the disease developing in the first place.

You may well struggle to find it in your local supermarket, though if you have a good Asian market you may be lucky enough to find it there. If you are interested in trying it, then a supplement is probably going to be your best bet. If your local health store can’t help you, then the first one available in the UK can be obtained at www.drinkherbaltea.co.uk as capsules that contain baby jackfruit oil that is naturally extracted.

AnnA’s Solution to Breakfast

I am the world’s worst at getting organised for breakfast. What I do know is that unless I have some protein first thing in the morning I really don’t function very well, but I am also not up for cooking or spending a lot of time preparing. As I dislike most grains and certainly muesli, I have been experimenting with finding a breakfast that is fully sustaining, quick and easy to prepare.

I have settled on a combination that is part green, part fruit, part protein and certainly delicious. I have shared this recipe with others who seem to have agreed with me so I thought it would be good to share it with you in case you have one of those mornings too!

The ingredients are very variable, depending what’s on what’s in the fridge, but here is the most common combination:

Organic yoghurt — vanilla in my case

Soymilk or oat, or rice milks

Banana and/or avocado

handful of young spinach or watercress leaves

Tablespoon of protein powder from Higher Nature or a vegetarian source

Tablespoon each of Linwoods milled flaxseed and almonds and flaxseed cocoa and berries

The amount of yoghurt and milk is a matter of taste – the yoghurt makes it thicker and the milk will thin it so experiment to get your personal blend. Stick everything in a blender with a few ice cubes and blast it until it’s smooth. Adjust the liquid to your taste, and I usually add more liquid at the end. This makes enough for two, so if you are dining alone just put the rest in a sealed container in the fridge and it will be fine for 24 hours – just stir before drinking. In summer I will add strawberries or raspberries and in winter I will often use frozen berries as they give it a wonderful coldness and colour. Very healthy, delicious and sustaining. If you try it, let me know what you think.

The Benefits of Krill the Crustacean – and a Vegetarian Alternative

I almost said the thrill of the kill, but that would’ve been a pun too far! Maintaining good levels of EPA and DHA, the fatty acids which play a key role in heart and brain health and lowering the risk of depression. What the latest buzz is from across the pond, these watery metaphors have got to stop, is that a good if not the best source of these elements is to be found in a tiny crustacean in Antarctica. The krill is a mini powerhouse of nutritional benefit and when its oil is harvested it delivers a potent blend of antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids and phospholipids.

I am always wary of the phrase ‘super food’ but this does seem to be a new way of getting the benefits of fish oil in supplement form and without the corresponding fishy smell or taste. CardioRedTM has a pure high-strength krill oil that is sourced from sustainable live krill harvests using the latest eco-friendly technology – and with 100 per cent traceability it comes from a single source, euphausia superba. –

Unlike traditional fish oils, the lipids in CardioRed Krill Oil capsules take the form of bound phospholipids, which are more easily absorbed by the body. They also contain astaxanthin, a powerful natural antioxidant. You should be able to find CardioRed Krill Oil capsules, in your local health store that if you have any difficulty go to their website at www.cardiored.co.uk.

For vegetarians, add plenty of walnuts to your diet as they are a rich plant source of omega-3s, the fatty acids also found in cold water fish like salmon and krill. Also men who are concerned about their prostate, should include walnuts as part of a balanced diet that includes lots of fruits and vegetables as they have been shown to help reduce the risk and help to treat the condition.

Daily Aspirin Use Linked to 5 Times Increased Risk of Crohn’s Disease

A number of healthy people are taking a low dose aspirin on a daily basis as a preventive for heart disease, though it’s value has been disproven as recently was reported on the NHS website. Previous research work on tissue samples has shown that aspirin can have a harmful effect on the bowel and there is a reported risk of dangerous internal bleeding, though no beneficial effect on reducing the incidence of heart attacks or strokes, on doses of 100mg aspirin daily.

These are healthy people taking what they believe is valuable preventive action but it almost doubles the risk of dangerous internal bleeding compared to dummy pills (placebo), and if you are taking daily aspirin for a higher vascular risk then consult your doctor before stopping taking it, but there is now also a new risk associated with it, particularly if you have been doing so for over a year.

According to a new study led by Dr Andrew Hart at the University of East Anglia, in conjunction with 200,000 volunteers from the UK Sweden Denmark Germany and Italy, and are are they found that those taking aspirin regularly for a year or more were around five times more likely to develop Crohn’s disease. Further, the study also showed that aspirin use had no effect on the risk of developing ulcerative colitis — a condition similar to Crohn’s disease.

Crohn’s disease is a serious condition affecting 60,000 people in the UK that is characterized by inflammation and swelling of any part of the digestive system. This can lead to debilitating symptoms and requires patients to take life-long medication. Some patients need surgery and some sufferers have an increased risk of bowel cancer.

Although this may seem a rather frightening link, the actual numbers of people contracting Crohn’s disease remains very low — only one in every 2000 users and further research is being carried out, particularly in relation to other potential causal factors including diet.

Snoring, Sleep and Natural Solutions

The Benefits of Power Napping

I often rail against unnecessary research, but I confess to a sneaking liking for researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, who have just found that people who take naps during the day are helping to improve their overall brain function.

See, I knew there was a good reason the cats and I closed our eyes after lunch though not for the time frame the researchers were using. Apparently the healthy adults they evaluated in their study were allowed a nap for an hour and a half during the day and then given a cognitive exam.

This was based on a “hard learning” morning task for which all participants performed roughly the same but the difference came later. Half the group then took a nap while the others stayed awake and following the nap everyone repeated the exam. This time, the group that napped performed better than the group that stayed awake – how good is that for when you next have to justify closing your eyes for an hour or so?

Scientists, bless them, have long been trying to discover whether or not mid-day naps are beneficial – presumably without trying them out personally. What the California research seems to suggest is that naps help us process short-term memories into long-term ones, clearing the temporary storage portion of the brain so that new information can take its place. They looked at the subjects’ brain electrical activity and found that the nappers were in a sleep phase somewhere between deep sleep and dreaming sleep. During this time, temporary memories move from the hippocampus to the pre-frontal cortex.

Dr. Matthew Walker, lead author of the study, has a very 21st century way of explaining it as like your e-mail inbox becoming full. Until we sleep, or take a nap, all the new information received since the last sleeping period remains in hippocampus. Once it is full, no new information can be readily processed, inhibiting us from fully functioning throughout the entire day.

There was a dissenter to the new findings, however in Professor Derk-Jan Dijk. He is the Director of the Surrey Sleep Research Centre in the U.K. and doesn’t see that there is necessarily a clear advantage to sleeping more than once in a 24-hour period. He explained that, outside of the lab in the real world, it is difficult to assess whether or not taking a mid-day nap provides the type of cognitive benefit observed in the laboratory. It may simply help someone who was tired to have more post-nap energy and brain functionality.

Not sure how old Professor Dijk is, but I can promise him that a refreshing afternoon nap definitely gets more attractive as you get older!

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